Patrol

No 'Stand Your Ground' Immunity for Former Florida Officer

A former police officer with the Palm Beach Gardens (FL) Police Department has failed in his bid to receive so-called "stand your ground" immunity, according to court records.

The Palm Beach Post reported that Nouman Raja—who is charged with manslaughter by culpable negligence and attempted murder with a firearm—brought the request to Florida’s 4th District Court of Appeal after Circuit Judge Samantha Schosberg Feuer denied Raja’s request for "stand your ground" immunity in June.

Raja claims he acted in self-defense when he reportedly shot Corey Jones near the off-ramp of Interstate 95 because Jones came at him with a gun.

But Feuer wrote in her 27-page ruling in June that Raja "acted unreasonably and not as a prudent person under the circumstances and the law."

To be granted the "stand your ground" immunity, defendants must believe they are in imminent danger, be in a place they have the right to be and are not taking part in a criminal act, according to Florida law.

Scanner audio captured an officer’s account of what happened at the scene, CWBChicago reports: “Ten people surrounded me, indicating that they had firearms. And one person pulled him away from me, holding his waist, indicating that he would use a firearm against me.”

There were so many police officers, sheriff’s deputies and Highway Patrol troopers that the court appearance had to be moved out of Justice Court to Judge John Larson’s Courtroom Number Three on the third floor of the Missoula County Courthouse.

The vehicle pursuit ended in the town of Kittitas where Deputy Thompson was backed up by Officer Benito Chavez. The suspect exited the vehicle and exchanged shots with the two law enforcement officers.

Sarah Wilson and her boyfriend were arrested during a stop in Chesapeake after officers allegedly found drugs in the 1996 Lexus the couple were driving. Police said they handcuffed Wilson and, while attempting to apprehend her boyfriend, 27-year-old Holden Medlin, he became combative and ran away from the scene.